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As questions swirl about state Sen. Eric Kearney’s unpaid tax obligations, the Democratic gubernatorial campaign of Ed FitzGerald emphatically stated yesterday that there is no discussion of dumping Kearney as FitzGerald’s running mate.

Since the day after FitzGerald announced Kearney as his lieutenant governor selection on Nov. 20, the campaign has been buffeted by negative stories about huge tax debts owed to the federal and state governments by Kearney, his wife and their publishing company.

“There is no discussion of Sen. Kearney leaving the ticket — it’s absolutely preposterous,” said Matt McGrath, FitzGerald’s campaign spokesman. “Anything around that is absolutely absurd.”

Kearney, 50, is minority leader of the Senate and a member since 2005. FitzGerald, the Cuyahoga County executive, chose the African-American Cincinnatian, in part, because of the geographical and racial balance Kearney brings to the ticket.

But the rollout of the ticket against Republican Gov. John Kasich has been mired in controversy amid reports about Kearney’s tax problems.

Yesterday, the news worsened: The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that American Express had sued Kearney last year, claiming he owed $14,449. Kearney settled the case by promising to make $500-a-month payments, plus 3 percent interest, on the $13,107 that was still owed.

Chris Schrimpf, spokesman for the Ohio Republican Party, said continuing revelations about Kearney’s debts indicate that he has not been forthright.

“The larger question goes to Ed FitzGerald’s judgment,” Schrimpf said. “What sort of process did he go through before selecting Eric Kearney as his running mate? It’s clearly been a disaster, and FitzGerald still hasn’t personally addressed it.”

McGrath said FitzGerald was aware that Kearney had tax problems before selecting him, noting they were an issue in Kearney’s successful 2010 campaign for Senate.

Records show that since 1998, the Internal Revenue Service and the state of Ohio have placed about $1 million in liens against Kearney; his wife, Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney; and their companies, Sesh Communications and KGL Media Group Inc. Sesh publishes newspapers for the African-American communities in Dayton, Cincinnati and northern Kentucky.

The Dayton Daily News reported the Kearneys personally owe $197,344, while KGL Media has $731,805 in state and federal liens. Kearney released records showing the couple has been making $1,000-a-month payments and still owes $96,376.

Kearney is disputing some of the tax liens, and he blames the problems, in part, on challenges in the newspaper business and a former partner who was convicted of stealing money and ordered to repay $25,298 to Sesh Communications in 2002.

Although Kearney joined the Senate in 2005, he did not report the federal government as a creditor on his required state ethics-disclosure form until 2008, and the state of Ohio doesn’t show up as a creditor until 2009.

Kearney disclosed his state debt with this description: “ODOT (As Shareholder).” ODOT is the acronym for the Ohio Department of Transportation, although DOT also is an acronym used by the state Department of Taxation. As for the federal debt, Kearney reported: “U.S. Department of Treasurer (As Shareholder).”

Ohio Legislative Inspector General Tony Bledsoe said it is not unusual for public officials to use acronyms on their ethics reports, conceding that ODOT typically is perceived as the transportation department. Bledsoe said public officials are required to report personal debts, not those owed by corporations in which they have ownership.

McGrath said the liens “all stem from and are connected to the company, in which Sen. Kearney is a shareholder,” adding that Kearney hasn’t been involved in the day-to-day operations of the company since 2005. He said Kearney began listing the U.S. Treasury as a creditor when he entered a payment plan with the IRS, “which was the result of the Kearneys personally taking on a portion of liens that had been assessed to the company.”

The state liens, McGrath said, “have been assessed to the company, but Sen. Kearney decided to list them in the interest of fuller disclosure.”

Greg Haas, chairman of the Franklin County Democratic Party, said voters will understand Kearney’s financial problems: “People know what’s happened in the publishing industry around the country and there are a lot of owners fighting to hold on to these community assets. When you throw in the theft, I can see why he had trouble.”